Skip to main content

The Trials of Morrigan Crow


The Trials of Morrigan Crow
by Jessica Townsend
Little Brown & Co, 2017. Fiction. 465 p.
Morrigan is cursed because she was born on Eventide. She has spent her whole life being blamed for any bad thing that happened, and knowing she would die on her 11 birthday.  When her 11th birthday comes, instead of dying she is whisked away to another land, called Nevermoor, and registered as a candidate for the Wundrous Society. To stay in Nevermoor, and to stay alive, she must pass the four trials that will decide which of the 500 candidates will receive one of the nine appointments to the society.  As she progresses through her trials she learns more about herself, the other candidates, and the evil Wundersmith whose memory still haunts the land.

This is now my favorite fantasy from 2017.  It is fun and well crafted.  I kept expecting it to get dark and tragic, but it never did.  It has a lot of elements one could compare with Harry Potter, but not, I think, in a bad way.  The characters are strong, the plotting is great, and the fantasy world is a delight. The only trouble is that the sequel won't be out until October.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) by Pamela Espeland & Elizabeth Verdick

If there's one book today's kids need to read, it is Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) . The authors provide a fun format for teaching etiquette to children. They discuss proper behavior at home, at school, at other people's homes and in public places. The information is completely up-to-date with cellphone manners and netiquette included. Fun, cartoony illustrations are on practically every page giving the book great visual appeal. This book is perfect for boys and girls in the fourth grade or older. WARNING: Bodily functions are discussed.

Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin

Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin Illustrated by Leslie Evans Charlesburg; 2009; unpaged Faces of the Moon is a short nonfiction book that describes the different phases of the moon and why the moon appears like it does on certain nights. This book is short and sweet so even the youngest of moon lovers will enjoy it. The layout is simplistic and easy to follow. I don’t know much about the moon so I found it very interesting.

Review: The Factory

The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...